Distinguished Visitors and Guests

Through a series of public lectures and programs, the Gary L. McDowell Institute brings in some of the world's leading voices in the areas of constitutionalism, political economy, politics, and ethical reasoning. The list of distinguished visitors includes top diplomats, Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, and renowned historians, ethicists, and political scientists.

Distinguished visitors and guests include:

  • John Agresto, former President of St. John’s College and former professor at the University of Toronto, Kenyon College, Duke University and The New School. He formerly served as a senior adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Coalition Provisional Authority, and as provost and chancellor of the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani.
  • Randy E. Barnett, Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and faculty director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
  • Teresa Bejan, Professor of Political Theory and a Fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford
  • David Blight, Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies, Yale University
  • Karol Boudreaux, Senior Land and Resource Governance Advisor at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and former affiliated senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University
  • James W. Ceaser, Harry F. Byrd Professor of Politics, University of Virginia
  • Emily Chamlee-Wright, President and CEO, Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University
  • William A. Galston, Ezra K. Zilkha Chair and Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution, former policy adviser to President Clinton and other presidential candidates 
  • Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, emerita, Harvard University, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See
  • Roger Kimball, Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, President and Publisher of Encounter Books
  • Yuval Levin, director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy
  • Harvey Mansfield Jr., William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government and professor of political philosophy, Harvard University, author of "Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power" 
  • Peter McNamara, Associate Professor of Political Theory, Utah State University
  • Steven G. Medema, George Family Research Professor, Duke University 
  • Lord Baron Charles Moore of Etchingham, former editor at the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, and Spectator magazine, and authorized biographer of Lady Margaret Thatcher
  • Mary P. Nichols, retired Professor of Political Science, Baylor University
  • Stephen B. Presser, Raoul Berger Professor of Law Emeritus, Professor of Business Law Emeritus, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
  • Jonathan Rauch, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, the Brookings Institution, contributing writer of The Atlantic and recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award
  • Colleen Sheehan, Professor of Political Science and Director of The Matthew J. Ryan Center, Villanova University
  • John Tomasi, Romeo Elton Professor of Natural Philosophy and Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Brown University
  • Nicola Tynan, Associate Professor of Economics, Dickinson College
  • Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" and winner of the Bancroft Prize for his book "The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787." He writes frequently for The New York Review of Books and The New Republic.
  • Catherine Zuckert, Reeves Dreux Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame, editor-in-chief of The Review of Politics from 2004-2018
  • Michael Zuckert, Nancy R. Dreux Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame